Saturday, January 9, 2016

Bronze & Paint

Recently I finished up a few projects. 

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The jackrabbits were an idea inspired by working at Great Basin; they were everywhere and had a lumbering sort of grace. The sculptures were created with that characteristic goofiness in mind. My roommate, Miki commented that the actual skeleton of my creation must be "horrifying", which made me smile. Miki was also the artist in residence and an inspiring lady who connected me with the foundry to pour my castings.  


Once I received the castings back from the foundry, the next step was to grind off all the extra crap that had glommed onto them while the metal was being poured. This was a laborious, but also hilarious process. I purchased an angle grinder for the job, but soon realized that shooting off metal sparks in a tiny apartment with wood floors was probably not going to end well. Also, the soundtrack for my neighbors wouldn't be unlike somebody chopping up bodies next-door. So my solution became running an extension cord from my boyfriend's work place into the nearby alley where a construction crew was already working. 'Mornin', boys', I nodded behind goggles and a respirator. Yep, this is totally normal. Nothing to see here... just your average crazy lady in an alley with power tools and a bagel. 


Once the hunks of excess metal were removed, I was able to do the finer grinding and finishing at home. Patinas are chemical solutions that create different rust finishes for metal when heat is applied. My patina didn't turn out exactly as planned because I didn't have easy access to a blowtorch, oddly enough. For what I was working with (a hairdryer and boiling water), I am decently satisfied. 

As you can see, the plans for this project were airtight, from start to finish.
And more to the point, the jackrabbits were finished in time for Christmas and found homes with my family.

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Below are a few other things that I have been working on periodically. The bottle came from a dream.







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